Backpacking 11 months around the world, from one sacred place to another, discovering and collecting legends and tales...
This is the solo challenge and pedagogic project that I set up with my pupils from Collège Jean Giono, Nice (France) and nourished during the journey through this blog.
I wish you a pleasant browsing!

Starting from the end of the 6th century, the capital of Japan was located in Nara for almost 200 years !

Deer, considered messengers of the gods Kasuga Taisha, graze all over the park and beg for your food!

In 743, the emperor Shomu ordered the building of a giant Buddha. Japan had been suffering from smallpox and drought, and the emperor hoped to settle unrest and unite the people with relatively new ideas of Buddhism. The almost 15-meter high Buddha, cast in copper and coated with gold, was completed in 752. The structure housing it, known as the Daibutsu Den, is possibly the largets wooden building in the world and is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

One of the oldest and largest shrines in Japan, Kasuga Taisha enshrines four Shinto deities and is considered the family shrine of the Fujiwaras, a clan that was powerful when Nara was made capital of Japan. The lanterns are presented by worshippers, and are lighted twice a year.

The Japanese are mainly Buddhist. Going to the temple to pray their many Gods and make wishes is part of everyday life.For 100 yens, you can shake a box containing sticks, until one falls. The number written on the stick corresponds to one poem. I tested my good fortune at Meiji Jingu in Tokyo. The poem I got was composed in the traditional 31-syllable form (waka), by the Empress Shoken. These Imperial poems deliver special messages...My "Omikuji" says :

Cut, if need be, through thick briars,

Knots of brambles, tangled thorns,

For the path that`s yours to follow

Must be trodden to the end.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~:)

Located on the hill of eastern Kyoto, Kiyomizu temple is one of the most popular temples in Kyoto.

In this temple, you can buy many wishes

Young girls come and pray to the popular matchmaking shrine.

The God of love

This stone is called "Love-fortune-telling" stone. If you walk safely from this stone to the other with your eyes closed, your wish will be granted soon. If you can`t, it will be long before your love is realized!!! ...